Ecuador: Rainforest under siege

Abstract

This chapter explains the tightening pressures on the many dimensions of protection in the Ecuadorian Amazon, from conservation of its biodiversity to repelling multiple incursions of its elaborate system of protected areas, the anchor of the country's vaunted constitutional protection of Nature's rights. With a focus on the extensive oil concessions and incursions on protected areas, it critiques the disparity between the country's strong ecological movement, infrastructure, and law on the one hand, and, on the other, the economic priorities of a government intent on exploiting the Amazon's resources.